Good point, wandering off into the weeds.
The slippery slope between discussion and conversation.
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Sorry Tom. Point taken. Thanks for the reminder. My apologies to everyone. I have been enjoying interacting with others who like some of the same stuff I’m into. But all things do need to be kept “decent and in order”. Will do better at staying on point.
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From the driving habits thread.
I thought I´d help Chris steer this into a suitable category.
When here I may as well mention I use a lot of used bicycle inner tires. I tie a lot of things down with them - on the trailer, roof rack or for tieing down wood covering tin for exampel. The flex make them never slack. Also I make gaskets and seal leaky plumbing with them. Very useful in many areas. Not very durable in sunlight but it doesn´t matter. I get them for free at a bicycle repair shop.
For what it´s worth from across the pond on a Friday evening.
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Good transfer J.O.
The too much forgotten now 21st century is the complete mantra from back in the Appropriate Technology era late 1970’s to early 1980’s was,
“Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.”
In the current cultures drowning in Stuff, the Reuse part had gotten shoved to one side by the Reduce-ALL Idealists.
The excess’s party is not truly over until all of the excesses are Reuse/Recycled used up, “cleaned up” from usable-in-any -way back to base stocks.
tree-farmer Steve unruh
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My pet peeve is the way in the USA we tare down old buildings to build new ones. The Europeans “live in” homes that are 100-200 years old and many municiple buildings are even older. The internet has pictures of down towns before the war, and after the war, and present. Here after a disaster we go in with bulldozer and other heavy equipment and level everything. Then rebuild to modern architecture. Europe after a disaster go in and clean up what needs cleaning and rebuilds to about the same architecture. So I am nostalgic. And guilty of doing the US way on my farm. TomC
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I just read back through this thread and found that Don M. had us talking about his welder was acting like it was out of gas. Don, did you find the problem?? TomC
Oh yes iner tires from all our wheels come usefull. Big tractor tires for seals and such. Use them a lot with woodgas too. They make a good emergancy seal in case of a gas leak.
Tom is right. We still build new houses with thoad of the next generation but are slowly comeing your way. Noone fixes anything, all just buy new.
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One of the better tips or tricks i was forgotten of, but reminded by Kristijan somewhere in his postings:
Stickwelding with stainless rods
It was a long time ago that i ever did weld stainless and or used stainless rods, untill here recently on my little tests, but i would not change my sticks anymore not even for welding ordinary steel structures/gasifiers…
recommendable for those who need easy welding to do…
Thanks for reminding me Kristijan, sorry for posting this so late…
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I’m not much of a welder, Koen, but I have a tube of similar rod here for the same reasons that you state. It’s Harris Super Missileweld. Seems to weld just about anything to anything. Not cheap, though.
Pete Stanaitis
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Yes, Tom, I had the wrong conical nozzle on that let the contact tip protrude past the nozzle. My other nozzle places the tip almost a quarter inch back of the nozzle opening. After I changed it back, it worked like it always did.
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Vacuum gauges sometimes get gummed up on the inlet side of the filter because there is gunk in the unfiltered gas. Here is my solution: use 2 90 degree fittings and fill the space where the fittings mate with SS wool or bronze wool.
On some gauges I have been able to unscrew the tiny orifice and clean it out. The orifice screw slot stripped out on my latest clog-up so I drilled it out. This radical step led to this new way to keep crud out of the gauge.
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I did test the following trick and i am happy to share:
Superglue mixed with baking soda
Easy to find clips on youtube: example
Works as a charm for all those little gaps to fill and pipes to construct.
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Been doing this for years building R/C model aircraft. Never used this technique for anything but wood, however! I prefer classic JB Weld for radiator repairs if you can see the bad spot. Thanks, Koen, for the tip, and the reminder of super glue and baking soda “composite” repair and construction. 
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The picture is not wery good but this is a trick l discovered today.
I had to clean my gasifiers gutter becouse some tar baked in it so l put a peace of sturdy handbrake steel cable in the drilling machine and drilled out the crust. As the tip of the cable is spining, the fibres expand and make a nice fast spining brush. The spining cable reaches voyds snd holes realy well.
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Thanks Kristijan for that great idea.
Bob
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I finally fabricated a 1/2” drive ratchet motor starter
Haven’t tried it out yet, but with the gap the direction of rotation can be changed
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Hi all, just want to put this out here, I got a new welding helmet as a gift(from wife) over a year ago. This is my review; It is an accustrike http://www.accustrike.com after using it for a year almost every day I wouln’t trade it for any auto darkening helmet. I have a Jackson($500) and a Opti($200) that are now just setting on the shelf. Check it out if you are looking to buy a new helmet or like me never liked the green lens welding in a dark shop. Wife bought this one on ebay for $80.00
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Thanks for the review Al.
That will be next helmet I buy 
Now that I have false teeth I can’t chew gum so I could use one of these.TomC
